Margaret E. Donnelly
LOWELL - Margaret E. (Lowe) Donnelly, 99, a lifelong Lowell resident, passed away Tuesday, October 13, 2020, at Lowell General Hospital. She was the widow of the late Fred W. Donnelly who died in 2006.
She was born in Lowell on September 24, 1921 and was a daughter of the late Jarvis J. Lowe and the late Emma E. (Wossner) Lowe-hedlund.
She made her lifelong home in Lowell, residing on Saratoga Street for more than forty years. She was a member of the former St. Peter’s Parish and the former Sacred Heart Parish. More recently, she attended masses at the Shrine of St. Joseph in downtown Lowell.
Her lifelong devotion was to her family. She loved family gatherings and especially loved her grandchildren, great grandchildren and her great great grandchildren. She had always enjoyed dancing, singing and playing the piano as well.
Her survivors include her daughter, Janice (Donnelly) Newcomb of Hooksett, NH; four grandchildren, Patricia Chamberlin and her husband, John of Ashland, NH, Christine Mason and her husband, Greg of Ashland, NH, Thomas Newcomb and his wife, Tina, of Thornton, NH, and Shawn Newcomb and his wife, Shawna, of Lisbon, NH. She is also survived by her 12 great grandchildren, her 9 great-great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Margaret was also the mother of the late Frederick W. Donnelly, mother in law of the late Lorraine (Letourneau) Donnelly; and sister of the late James Lowe, the late John Lowe, the late Frances E. Duffy, the late Marie R. Lowe, the late George Lowe, and the late Albert C. Hedlund.
WHILE FOLLOWING SOCIAL DISTANCING GUIDELINES AND WEARING A MASK, YOU ARE INVITED TO HER CALLING HOURS ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020 FROM 9-10 A.M. AT THE MCDONOUGH FUNERAL HOME, 14 HIGHLAND STREET, LOWELL, MA 978-45866816. DUE TO COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS, HER FUNERAL MASS AND BURIAL WILL BE HELD PRIVATELY. PLEASE VISIT WWW. MCDONOUGHFUNERALHOME.COM TO SEND THE FAMILY AN E-CONDOLENCE.
and where transmission can occur easily.
The regulatory changes and the new package from the Baker administration respond in part to the pandemic’s devastation, but members of the council argued Wednesday that officials should impose additional requirements.
Edward Bernstein, a doctor and professor at Boston University’s School of Medicine, said the changes should go beyond increased spacing between patients to address ventilation, aerosol spread, and other infection control-related topics.
“I didn’t see in the regulations a section that really enhanced the infectious control,” Bernstein said. “I’m really concerned about this since I feel our eldest have a right to life and we didn’t do a very good job, in my opinion, protecting them from COVID.”
“The idea of having separate rooms is excellent and spacing, yes, but even six feet isn’t an adequate distance (to prevent) aerosol spray of COVID,” he continued.
Staff replied that they
would continue to look at every aspect possible and noted that the department provides guidance to shut doors during any aerosolgenerating procedures and deploys ongoing COVID-19 testing for patients who are on nebulizers or similar treatments.
Lucilia Prates-ramos, director of Massachusetts Medicare and Medicaid Outreach and Education Program at the Elderly Services of Merrimack Valley, cautioned that some facilities still have not complied with a 2016 regulation requiring a certain number of full-time employee hours allocated to a staff infection preventionist.
“Some places have abided by this, I know a lot of places have not,” PratesRamos said. “As we all know, the care in our longterm care facilities has long had lots to be desired, and COVID really shed a light on that, unfortunately, at the cost of many lives.”
Federal regulations that apply in Massachusetts require each nursing home to have an infection preventionist on staff, and Prates-ramos suggested that the state version could mirror that language given that “long-term care facilities are a petri dish for infections.”
DPH is also working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a new COVID-19 infection control training, which officials at the meeting said could be rolled out this fall.
The Massachusetts Senior Care Association could not be reached for immediate comment on the regulatory changes Wednesday. The group’s president, Tara Gregorio, praised the Baker administration’s similar announcement in September, describing the effort as “clearly prioritizing the health and safety of our residents and their caregivers.”